From I Am Nothing to I Am Everything
- Duration: Video: 1 hour, 11 minutes, and 43 seconds / Audio: 1 hour, 11 minutes, and 43 seconds
- Recorded on: Jun 5, 2023
- Event: Seven Day Retreat at The Vedanta – 3rd to 10th June 2023
A man says that he feels guilty about his mental health issues. Rupert says that not only is he not guilty, but his life – though difficult to this point – has brought him to this understanding.
A man says he can neither know, nor not know, that consciousness is infinite. Rupert suggests that many think that consciousness is finite because they look at it through the finite mind. Therefore, it shares its limitations. If you look at snow through orange-tinted glasses, the snow will appear orange. That which is aware is what is aware of your experience.
A woman asks about laziness after Rupert used it in a meditation about enlightenment. Rupert responds that the laziness that he spoke of is not laziness of mind but the inherent laziness of being. We still carry on doing our work, but being is at rest all the time, found behind all activity.
A woman asks about how to work with difficult experiences, like potential homelessness. Rupert says that it is completely legitimate to resist being homeless and to do everything she can to find a home. That resistance is not egoic. Under difficult circumstances, our attention is absorbed in dealing with them, but when we become aware of a pause, we take refuge there before giving our circumstances our full attention.
A woman, who has done trauma work, says she has come to understand from Rupert's teaching that she doesn't have a specific purpose. Rupert suggests that as long as we believe and feel that we are a separate self, we are on an inevitable search for happiness that is inevitable. The purpose of our lives is to find happiness not in objective experience but in our own being. Having recognised that, it is natural to want to share this recognition, which becomes our purpose.
A woman, new to Rupert’s teaching, relays her experience in meditation with a mind that is still active. Rupert suggests the meditations and meetings over the course of the retreat have taken her to her to a taste of her true nature. What she is experiencing at the level of the mind and the body is the effect of this taste of her true nature on the mind and the body.
A man asks about the movement from I am nothing to I am everything. Rupert responds that the step from I am something to I am nothing is the same. It can take years or happen in a moment. This can take place in a linear or non-linear way. I am everything is the natural consequence of the recognition I am nothing.
A woman acknowledges the magnetic power of her thoughts. Rupert asks her to tell us about her awareness. In that pause, she found that which is aware of her experience when she said, ‘I am’. She says she tries to do it herself and asks, ‘How do I return to being myself?’
A woman repeats what Rupert said about time and space as not inherent in reality, and describes an experience of dissolving in awareness at retreat. She asks if this was a gap in time and space. Rupert responds by asking, ‘How would you know that experience if there was no awareness to know it?’
A woman wonders if what she is experiencing is only her reality. Rupert says that when we dream at night, the dream we dream only happens in our own private finite mind. However, the world we experience in waking state is not just the projection of an individual finite mind. Each mind has an aspect that is private, albeit we are experiencing the same world, each from a unique perspective.
A woman says that when she pays attention in awareness, sometimes she thinks the ego is empty of thought, but the person holds on. Rupert suggests that it's a feeling in the body that is immune to rational thoughts, so it's a matter of releasing that tension into the space of awareness.
A man says that he feels guilty about his mental health issues. Rupert says that not only is he not guilty, but his life – though difficult to this point – has brought him to this understanding.
A man says he can neither know, nor not know, that consciousness is infinite. Rupert suggests that many think that consciousness is finite because they look at it through the finite mind. Therefore, it shares its limitations. If you look at snow through orange-tinted glasses, the snow will appear orange. That which is aware is what is aware of your experience.
A woman asks about laziness after Rupert used it in a meditation about enlightenment. Rupert responds that the laziness that he spoke of is not laziness of mind but the inherent laziness of being. We still carry on doing our work, but being is at rest all the time, found behind all activity.
A woman asks about how to work with difficult experiences, like potential homelessness. Rupert says that it is completely legitimate to resist being homeless and to do everything she can to find a home. That resistance is not egoic. Under difficult circumstances, our attention is absorbed in dealing with them, but when we become aware of a pause, we take refuge there before giving our circumstances our full attention.
A woman, who has done trauma work, says she has come to understand from Rupert's teaching that she doesn't have a specific purpose. Rupert suggests that as long as we believe and feel that we are a separate self, we are on an inevitable search for happiness that is inevitable. The purpose of our lives is to find happiness not in objective experience but in our own being. Having recognised that, it is natural to want to share this recognition, which becomes our purpose.
A woman, new to Rupert’s teaching, relays her experience in meditation with a mind that is still active. Rupert suggests the meditations and meetings over the course of the retreat have taken her to her to a taste of her true nature. What she is experiencing at the level of the mind and the body is the effect of this taste of her true nature on the mind and the body.
A man asks about the movement from I am nothing to I am everything. Rupert responds that the step from I am something to I am nothing is the same. It can take years or happen in a moment. This can take place in a linear or non-linear way. I am everything is the natural consequence of the recognition I am nothing.
A woman acknowledges the magnetic power of her thoughts. Rupert asks her to tell us about her awareness. In that pause, she found that which is aware of her experience when she said, ‘I am’. She says she tries to do it herself and asks, ‘How do I return to being myself?’
A woman repeats what Rupert said about time and space as not inherent in reality, and describes an experience of dissolving in awareness at retreat. She asks if this was a gap in time and space. Rupert responds by asking, ‘How would you know that experience if there was no awareness to know it?’
A woman wonders if what she is experiencing is only her reality. Rupert says that when we dream at night, the dream we dream only happens in our own private finite mind. However, the world we experience in waking state is not just the projection of an individual finite mind. Each mind has an aspect that is private, albeit we are experiencing the same world, each from a unique perspective.
A woman says that when she pays attention in awareness, sometimes she thinks the ego is empty of thought, but the person holds on. Rupert suggests that it's a feeling in the body that is immune to rational thoughts, so it's a matter of releasing that tension into the space of awareness.